


champagne problems

by luversd



Series: SuperCorp Adventures [18]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Champagne, Established Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, F/F, Marriage Proposal, Monopoly (Board Game)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:41:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28059366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luversd/pseuds/luversd
Summary: Kara proposes to her girlfriend on game night and things don't go as planned.(alternatively: the curse of monopoly)
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Series: SuperCorp Adventures [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1156511
Comments: 10
Kudos: 217





	champagne problems

**Author's Note:**

> Title from 'champagne problems' by Taylor Swift
> 
> Back at it again with Monopoly. It was not intentional to write this as a part 2 of my other fic featuring Monopoly ('I can't do this anymore') but it happened and now here we are. There's a tiny reference to the other story but you don't have to read it to understand this. Anyway, I put them together in the series 'monopoly milestones' in case you wanted to read them both. 
> 
> The characters belong to the CW and DC Comics.  
> All mistakes are mine.
> 
> Enjoy! x

Something was off. Lena Luthor could feel it the moment she stepped into the apartment she shared with her girlfriend. Or maybe not off perse, but something was definitely happening. It was buzzing in the air, in the excited smiles on her friends' faces, in the way her girlfriend's blue eyes were sparkling like champagne. 

'Lena, you made it!' Alex Danvers greeted cheerfully, and probably a little tipsily, judging by the empty beer bottles by the sink. 

Lena raised an eyebrow as she shrugged off her coat and hung it by the door. 'I live here,' she pointed out. 'And it's game night.' She couldn't remember the last time she had missed one of these evening gatherings. 

'It _is_!' 

Hearing the commotion at the entrance, Kara quickly swooped in with a 'hey, Lena.' She turned her sister around and sent her on her way to the living room where the rest of the gang was. Her gaze landed back on her lover and a warm smile appeared on her lips. 

'Hey, you,' Lena returned with a similar expression on her face. She closed the distance between them and instinctively fell in Kara's embrace. She breathed in the apple-scented perfume and placed a soft kiss on the exposed skin of her neck before pulling away. Kara's arm stayed wrapped around her body as they took in the scene in front of them. 'Is Alex drunk?'

The blonde laughed. 'Yeah, she came over early to help set things up and she wanted to start the pre-party so it wouldn't 'suck when everyone arrives', as she so nicely put it.'

'She's done a very good job. You both did,' the Luthor commended. 'We should join them before they manage to set the couch on fire.' She turned her attention to the reporter beside her only to notice the blue eyes staring at her affectionately. An eyebrow arched, she asked, 'what?'

'You make me happy,' Kara answered easily, a grin taking over her face when she saw the light blush appearing on her girlfriend's cheeks. 

'Glad to hear I'm not failing this whole dating-thing,' the CEO joked before adding, 'you make me happy too, Kara, more than I could have ever imagined. I love you.'

'I love you too, and _au contraire_ ,' the blonde exclaimed with an exaggerated French accent. 'You're acing this girlfriend-arrangement, in fact I especially love this one thing that you do with your mouth.'

Lena smirked. 'Oh? What thing?'

Kara's lips landing on hers was all the response she needed. She savoured the taste of vanilla lip balm and... She pulled back and frowned. 'Did you have potstickers as your pre-dinner snack?'

Kara smiled sheepishly. 'I might have.'

'And were you going to pretend that you hadn't and suggest we order potstickers for dinner?' 

'Maybe.' 

The Luthor shook her head in amusement. 'You've got my full support.'

Kara grinned. 'You're the best.'

*

The evening was going well. Lena hadn't encountered any major surprises and as the sun went down, she felt her guard do the same. Maybe she had just been tense from a long day at the office, she thought to herself. Or maybe the Luthor-paranoia got the best of her. Either way, there seemed to have been no reason to worry. Right when she had managed to convince herself of the fact, Kara pulled out the Monopoly game from under the coffee table. Lena froze. While the board game had historically resulted in exactly one positive outcome, she wasn't willing to bet the chances that it would happen again. The game itself wasn't what the cause of her worry though, it was the lack of reaction from their friends. The name alone was enough to earn groans of protests under normal circumstances, but now, no one seemed particularly bothered by it. More so, they seemed _excited_ to play. 

'Monopoly? Really?' Lena asked when nobody spoke up. 

'We agreed we would play every now and then,' Kara reminded as she pulled out the board. 

'We played Monopoly two weeks ago,' the Luthor countered. 

'Exactly. That was then, and this is now,' the blonde reasoned. Lena didn't know why her girlfriend was dead set on playing the game when she was the one who ended up being the most upset about the endscore, but she nodded dutifully and backed off. 'Which token do you want?'

'The race car is fine,' Lena answered absentmindedly.

'How about the ring?' Kara asked nervously as she placed the object on the table in front of her. 

The CEO looked up confusedly. 'What ring?' She wondered before her gaze found the real, diamond, _engagement_ ring. 'Oh,' she breathed out. So, she had been right. Something fishy _was_ going on. She would have patted herself on the back had it not been for the fact that Kara was now on one knee with the ring held between her fingers and Alex was returning from the kitchen with a bottle of champagne in her hands. Her eyes darted to their watching friends: Kelly and Nia with their excited expression, James and his supportive grin, Brainy with his know-it-all smirk, and Winn with his understanding smile. _Winn_ , whom Kara had probably invited for the special occasion, who was from the future and must already know how this was going to end. Lena was one breath away from asking him what was going to happen next, how she was going to react, how Kara was going to react to her reaction. But Kara spoke up before she could ask any of those things.

'Lena-' Her voice was soft and sweet and her blue eyes were filled with love, and at that moment, Lena wished she had fought harder against playing Monopoly. Or maybe she should've pulled an all-nighter and crashed on the couch in her office instead of coming home to this. But Lena knew that no matter how many things she could've done differently that day, the proposal would've happened anyway. 

'Stop. Get up - or sit down,' she begged quietly, shaking her head and trying to find the right words. She wondered if there even were such things as right words when you were about to turn down a marriage proposal from the love of your life in front of all your friends. She supposed not, or if there were, they were lost on her at that time. 'You know what, do what you want. I'm-, I have to go,' she stuttered as she scrambled to her feet and headed towards the door.

'What? Wait, Lena!' 

Lena knew Kara was following her. She felt the cold wind brushing past her indicating that the Super had used her superspeed. _Not fair_ , she thought. If she had the Kryptonian's powers, she would've most likely flown out of the window the second she saw the ring - which was probably why it was better if she didn't have them. The universe couldn't make it too easy for her to run away from her problems, now could it? Still, she grabbed her coat and her purse, and then the door handle. A warm, but firm hand landed on hers before she could pull the door open. She clenched her jaw and stared at their hands. 'Kara, I'm sorry. I can't.'

'You can't what? Look at me, Lena,' Kara asked softly. Lena closed her eyes before doing as requested. Confusion and pain was written all over the blonde's face and she reflexively looked away, feeling guilty and angry at herself for being the cause of it. 

'Hey,' the Kryptonian called out, her hand reaching out to Lena's chin to redirect her attention back to her. 'Lena, what-, why did you freak out when I showed you the ring?' It was clear that the events that had just occurred were a chaotic jumble in her mind, a mess without any logical cause-and-effect relationship. 

The Luthor glanced behind her to the group of friends who were doing their best to give the couple some privacy but she knew they were also wondering what had happened, the same as Kara and herself. Kara followed her gaze and nodded. 'Let's go outside,' she suggested. 

Out they went, Lena in the lead, Kara trailing behind and closing the door once they were in the hall. Except Lena kept going, and now she was heading for the stairs. 'Where are you going?' The reporter asked with a frown as she hurried behind the other woman.

High heels weren't made for running down four flights of stairs but speed walking was not a problem, Lena found out. Although her feet and her calves were killing her by the time she arrived in the lobby - both from the strain they had endured as she tried not to fall down the steps and the tight grip of the shoes. 'Out,' she finally replied, turning around to face her lover - or whatever they were now.

'You're going out?' Kara repeated incredulously. 'Right now?' 

'Yes.'

'So this is it? We're through? I ask you to marry me - no, I _tried_ to ask you to marry me - and you walk out the door?' She asked, raising her voice. She clenched her fists and with effort, she reined back her emotions. 'Our relationship, our _friendship,_ down the drain because what? You're scared of commitment? You don't love me? You're not ready? I can wait, Lena. I can back off and give you space if that's what you need. Just give me a fucking reason.' Needless to say, keeping her emotions in check hadn't gone as successfully as she had hoped.

'Of course I love you, Kara.' Lena huffed in frustration. 'It's not you-'

'Don't you dare finish that sentence,' the Super warned. She took a deep breath and let the silence hang heavily between them. 'Talk to me, Lena,' she pleaded softly. 'Do you not want to marry me? Or do you not want to marry someone in general?' 

'I need to think,' was Lena's answer. It wasn't supposed to come off as short or dismissive but she knew that's exactly how Kara had taken it. 'I don't want to say things I don't mean and hurt you more than I already did.' She took a step back and Kara's frown deepened.

'Don't walk away, Lena,' the blonde told her. It was a plea as much as it was a warning. 

'I'm not running from this, or us,' the CEO promised. 'I'm coming back. I just need some air and time to figure out what I want to say.' 

'I'll wait.' 

*

Forty-five minutes later, Lena returned from her impromptu evening walk. The December air had been biting cold but at least it had helped to jog her mind. Kara waiting for her had been expected. Kara waiting for her in the same place she had left her as she sat on the stairs, however, was a surprise.

'You waited... here?' Lena asked as she took a seat next to the blonde. 

'I said I would,' Kara reminded.

'Well, yes, but I thought you meant upstairs, in our apartment.'

'Oh, no.'

'Is everyone-?'

'Still there. They ordered pizzas and potstickers,' the reporter supplied. 'They'll leave once they've finished eating.'

'Okay,' Lena answered softly. Silence followed after that and she knew Kara was waiting for an explanation, staying quiet either to give her the space to find her words or because she didn't have anything left to say. 'Okay,' she repeated slowly. 'I don't want to marry you yet,' she started, her head turned sideways to gaze at the woman who had managed to break down her walls with her award-winning smile and bubbly personality. Hearing the last word, Kara looked up with a cautious, but hopeful expression. 'Everything is going great right now with the company, with you, and I don't want to rock the boat. I'm happy, _genuinely_ happy, and I cannot wait for the day when I get to call you my wife, but that's not where I am at this moment.'

'But you would like to marry me someday?' Kara checked.

'Of course,' Lena assured with a tender smile. 'I just don't want us to rush things and regret it.'

That caused the frown to reappear on the blonde's face. 'You think you'll regret marrying me? Or that I'll regret marrying you? I don't think I could ever regret anything I do with you.'

'I don't think I could either,' the Luthor admitted. 'But we haven't had a real, big fight yet, and I don't know where you stand on having kids in the future. I'm not saying I need to know everything about you before we get married, but there are some important things we need to talk about before we do. I mean, look at Alex and Maggie. You saw firsthand how hard it was for them to call the engagement off. I don't want that to happen to us.'

'Well, this is more a disagreement or a discussion than a fight, but if we ever have a big fight, then I'll probably do the same as I did tonight. No matter how at odds we may be, I will always fight for you, Lena - for us. And I'd like to have kids someday,' Kara answered honestly. 

A ghost version of her usual smirk found its way on Lena's face and it faded away as quickly as it had appeared. 'Me too,' she informed with relief. 'I know you'll fight for us, Kara, because that's who you are and I love that about you. It's not you that I'm worried about, it's me. I meant it when I said it wasn't you,' she said with a small smile. 'What if I fall back into old habits and walk away one too many times? What if I lose my mind like my brother did and you're stuck with a crazy sociopath? What if there's this one thing we can't agree on that could make us or break us, and instead of going our separate ways, you stay with me due to societal expectations? Or because you tell yourself you'll get over it?'

Kara exhaled slowly as she let the wave of words crash into her. 'Those are a lot of what-ifs,' she noted. 

'A lot can go wrong,' Lena replied pointedly.

The blonde faced her girlfriend and took her cold hands into her own. 'I can't predict the future, no one can, except maybe Winn. And Mon-El, and Imra. Okay, so I'm not off to a great start,' she joked lightly, making Lena chuckle softly. 'Some people can predict the future,' she amended, 'but honestly, I don't want to know what happens next. Whatever happens, happens and I know we will get through it together. You're right, I _am_ the kind of person who will fight for what they believe in but even I have my limits. The only thing, the only _person_ I would never get tired of fighting for, is you. And I know you're careful with who you trust and you have a tendency of pushing people away when you get scared, but you've learned to let a few people in, including our friends upstairs who are currently probably raiding our fridge and your stash of ridiculously expensive alcohol. Yes, you walk away when you need to think or when a situation gets too overwhelming, but you come back. I know all of this, I know _you_ , Lena. Like I said, I can't predict the future but what I do know, is that your brother was driven by his hatred of my cousin, but you're driven by your faith in humanity and their ability to do better.'

'I got that from you,' the Luthor credited with an affectionate smile. 

'You taught me to be more open to the myriad of people living in this universe and that everybody deserves the benefit of the doubt,' Kara replied passionately. 'See, we complement each other. This love and friendship is turning us into better versions of ourselves. That's how I know we'll be able to figure life out together, even that one thing that seems impossible to overcome.'

'That's a big speech you gave,' Lena teased. 

Kara laughed and shook her head in amusement. 'Not the one I had originally planned to give, but it'll do.' 

That sobered Lena up quickly. 'I'm sorry, and you're right. Besides, engagement is not the same thing as marriage. We could get engaged if you'd like as long as we keep it that way for a couple more years.'

Kara pulled the small box out of her pocket and stared at the ring with a pensive look on her face. 'No.'

The CEO raised an eyebrow. 'No?'

The Super looked up. 'I mean yes, I'm planning on making you my wife someday, but I know that words are just words. Maybe you do believe we'll be okay no matter what life throws at us, but I also know that your doubts are still lingering in that big brain of yours. You said you didn't want to rush so let's not. We still have a lifetime ahead of us to propose over and over again until we get the timing right.'

'I guess next time it'll be my turn to try, then,' Lena said teasingly. 

'Oh yeah, definitely. You're up next, Luthor,' Kara agreed as she carefully tossed the jewellery box into her girlfriend's lap. 

The businesswoman opened the container and eyed the ring thoroughly. 'It's beautiful.'

'It was my mother's,' the Kryptonian informed with a nostalgic smile. 

Green eyes found blue ones in a curious gaze. 'Eliza?'

'Alura,' she corrected. 

Lena groaned. 'Oh God, now I feel like a grade A asshole for rejecting your proposal.'

Kara chuckled. 'Don't, it was a temporary no, not a permanent one. It'll find its way to your finger, don't worry.'

Closing the small box, Lena handed the ring back to the other woman. 'Are you upset about how the evening turned out?' She asked tentatively. 

The blonde considered her question. 'Honestly, I am disappointed by this unexpected turn of events, but it's also partly my own fault.' At the arched brow on her lover's face, she elaborated, 'I had this whole idea about how tonight would go, you know? It was like a film replaying in my mind and I expected everything to go according to plan, even though I knew there was a chance that you would say no. By letting my imagination run away with me, I set myself up for disappointment, and obviously, this is news to me.' She gestured vaguely towards the CEO and Lena figured this equalled to her hesitance about getting married. 'But we talked about it, and I respect your feelings and your timeline.' 

Lena smiled. 'My timeline?'

'Yeah, you know, your general life and how and when everything finds its right place in it,' Kara explained. 

'Oh, so next time I want to ask someone how their life is going, I should ask how their _timeline_ is going instead?' The CEO wondered with a raised eyebrow. 

'Now you're making fun of me,' the blonde realised. 'That, is not nice,' she told her pointedly as she got up from her seat.

'I'm teasing you,' Lena corrected, grabbing Kara's outstretched arm to pull herself up. 

'You're just saying that because you're scared I won't propose to you anymore,' Kara argued as they climbed up the stairs. 

'I thought we agreed that it was my turn next?'

'Alright, then you were just saying that because you're scared I'll say no when you propose,' she amended.

Lena shrugged loosely. 'You seem to be taking it pretty well so it can't be that bad, right?'

'You want to bet on that?' Kara countered drily. 

'I don't gamble.'

'Of course you don't.' 

The couple arrived in front of their apartment and stayed there for a moment. 'I forgot they were still there for one short, blissful second,' Lena mused. 

Kara laughed. 'What do you want to tell them?'

The CEO breathed out slowly. 'The truth,' she finally answered. 'They deserve to know.'

The Super smiled approvingly at her decision and opened the door. The room fell silent as they stepped into their home. Six pairs of eyes landed on them instantaneously and it was obvious the suspense was killing their friends. Lena slipped her hand in her girlfriend's and led them to the living room. 'We're not engaged yet because there are still some things we need to figure out, but we're definitely going to get married someday,' she let them know. 

An uncertain cheer erupted from their group of friends and Kara chuckled at the reaction. 'This is good news, guys.' A louder cheer was heard and the six guests crowded around the pair. 

'Does this mean I can pop this bottle of champagne?' Alex checked with an excited look on her face. 

'Yes,' both Kara and Lena answered at the same time.

'Sweet.'

One loud pop and eight half-filled champagne glasses later, the blonde raised a toast. 'To someday.' Her eyes were locked on the CEO's and a warm smile appeared on her lips as the rest, including Lena, echoed her words. Instead of taking a sip from her cup, she leaned forward and connected their lips in a loving kiss, the display of affection making her feel more tipsy than the champagne ever could. 'I love you.'

Lena grinned. 'I love you too.'

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! :)


End file.
